Ashley Smith’s problems were “behavioural not mental” a guard at the Grand Valley correctional facility in Kitchener was told after the young inmate was discharged from the psychiatric hospital.

Ashley Smith’s problems were “behavioural not mental,” a guard at the Grand Valley correctional facility in Kitchener was told after the young inmate was discharged from the psychiatric hospital in St. Thomas, Ont. in June 2007, an inquest has heard.

Corrections officer Michelle Lombardo testified Thursday that the information came from nurses at Grand Valley after Smith spent some time at the St. Thomas facility.

Smith ended up there after escaping from her cell at Grand Valley. Staff at the jail had concerns about her possessing weapons such as glass, and wanted her to undergo a psychiatric assessment and internal exam.

Smith was well known at the jail for tying ligatures around her neck and choking herself.

She died at Grand Valley in Oct. 2007, when she stopped breathing after tying a ligature.

Lombardo told the inquest jury about two occasions on the same day in May 2007 when she and other guards had to forcefully restrain Smith and remove ligatures from her neck.

Smith was tearing apart towels from the shower in the jail to make the ligatures. The jail stopped giving her the towels in a bid to stop the harmful practice.

The next month Grand Valley shipped Ashley to Grand River hospital in Kitchener on a “Form 1” — used when someone is believed to be in danger of harming oneself or others.

Four days later she was transported from Grand River to the psychiatric centre in St. Thomas.

Lombardo, who testified Smith once told her they spoke like mother and daughter, got along well with the inmate, and so was asked to join the escort team transporting the teenager to the different centres.

Lombardo testified that Smith told her she was diagnosed with “something” when she was young, but that her mother wouldn’t let Ashley take medication for it.

Ashley stayed in St. Thomas for eight days. But she refused to partake in the programs and so was discharged. The inquest has heard that the troubled inmate often resisted interactions with psychiatrists and psychologists tasked with treating her.

When the escort team showed up to take her back to Grand Valley, Smith knew they were coming.

Smith told Lombardo: “Oh my friend, you came back to get me” the inquest heard.

Lombardo testified that she told Smith: “I’m not your friend, but I’m here to take you back to Grand Valley.”

Shortly after that, word got around the jail through nurses there that Smith’s problems weren’t mental health related, but behavioural.

Coroner’s counsel Jocelyn Speyer asked Lombardo whether she believed that to be accurate.

“I don’t believe they would make something like that up,” Lombardo replied.

Soon after the St. Thomas visit, Ashley resumed tying ligatures around her neck, Lombardo testified, adding the only place Ashley could have obtained the material was at St. Thomas.

Sure enough, a short time later Smith told Lombardo that when she was in the shower during her stay at St. Thomas “they didn’t watch me.”

The inquest continues.

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